Slack-adjuster.



W. H. SAUVAGE. SLACK Amussa.

APPLICATION FILED jAN. 25, 1916.

Patented; May 29, v1917.

Illbl UNTTED @TATES ATFNT @FFTQE WILLIATJI H. SAUVAGE, OF FLUSHING, NEWYORK, ASSIGNOR TO GOULD COUPLER COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SLACK-A'DJUSTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 29, 1917.

Application filed January 25, 1916. Serial No. 74,187.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WVILLIAM H. SAUVAGE, citizen of the United States,and resident of Flushing in the county of Queens and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Slack-Adjusters, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to automatic slack adjustcrs for brake rigging,and in its more intense aspect to the brake rigging associated with acar truck, although it is of course to be understood that withoutmaterial modification, the apparatus may be applied to the Jfoundationbrake rigging adjacent the power cylinder.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a simple andpractical slack adjuster of the above Igeneral type having few partswhich will be cheap to manufacture and install. Another object is toprovide an automatic slack adjuster mechanism of the last abovementioned type which will be reliable and efficient in use andoperation. A further object is to provide a slack adjuster mechanismparticularly adapted for the brake rigging associated with the trucks ofa car in which certain parts are more directly associated with the truckframing.

Other objects will be in part obvious from the annexed drawings and inpart indicated in connection therewith by the following analysis of thisinvention.

This invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combination of parts and in the unique relations of the members and inthe relative proportioning and disposition thereof, all as morecompletely outlined herein.

To enable others skilled in the art so fully to comprehend theunderlying features thereof that they may embody the same by thenumerous modifications in structure and relation contemplated by thisinvention, drawings depicting a preferred form have been annexed as apart of this disclosure, and in such drawings, like characters ofreference denote corresponding parts throughout all the views, in which-Figure 1 is a sectional elevation showing such parts of a truck andbrake rigging as are necessary to fully understand the presentinvention;

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are detail views of certain parts.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and more particularly to Fig. 1,5 denotes the transverse truck bolster, to one side of which ispivotally attached at 9 a dead lever support 6 to which the upper end ofa dead lever 7 is adjustably and pivotally connected. The lower end ofthis dead lever is connected. at the point 8 to a solid nonex- .tcnsiblepush rod 10, the opposite end of which is pivotally connected to thepoint 11 to the lower end of live lever 12. The upper end of this leveris pivotally connected at the point 18 to pull rod 14. If this mechanismwere to be applied to the foundation brake rigging, the power cylinderwould be substituted for the bolster 5 and the piston connected at thepoint 13. This mechanism so far described is all of well knownconstruction and operation.

The slack adjuster mechanism is preferably located between the live anddead levers and connects their lower parts as clearly shown in Fig. 1 ofthe drawings. This mechanism comprises brake beams 15 and 16 which areprovided with the usual brake shoe heads and shoes adapted to coact withthe peripheries of the adjacent wheels. The brake beam 16 adjacent the.dead lever is connected thereto by means of strut 17 The other brakebeam 15 is provided with a central housing as shown in cross sectionwithin which are mounted in the present case a plurality of dogs 18normally held in vcanted position by means of a coiled spring 20surrounding a take up and holding rod 21. This rod performs additionalfunction of the strut between the brake beam and the live lever andaccordingly permits the dispensing of this element.

The brake beam 15 is provided at its lower under side with a bifurcatedportion provided with a pivot or pintle pin 22 passing through a lostmotion slot 23 in one end of an adjusting rod or link 24, the oppositeend of which rod is provided with an elongated slot 25 through whichpasses a pin 26 provided with any desired form of friction take upclamp. This friction clamp may, for

example, comprise one or a pair of spring washers 27 as shown in Fig.4L, gripping the opposite sides of the adjusting rod 24 whereby the rod2st may have a relative movement with respect to said link in eitherdirection under abnormal circumstances, but is normally designed to slipin one direction only to take up the excess or false travel of the brakerigging due to wear of the parts.

To permit a certain amount of turning of the rod 24 with respect to itslength and prevent wear thereof at its point of support there isprovided a half ball washer 28 about the pin 26 adapted to rollin asocket in the support 30, as shown in Fig. 3.

1n other words, if any false travel exceeding` the lost motion providedby the slot 23 occurs it is registered upon this slot 2.5, and onrelease of the brakes will actuate the permanent take up and holdingdevice including` the dogs 18 upon the rod 21. At this point, it may benoted any other form of take up rod may be substituted, such for exampleas ratchets, screw threads or the like,

in fact, any device adapted to effectively take up and hold the slackbetween the effective ends 0f the telescopic parts will answer thepurpose although the construction shown is preferred due to its accuracyof movement.

This device operates insubstantially the following manner:

On application of the brakes, the upper end of the live lever 12 movestoward the left and reacts upon the dead lever through the push rod 10to move the lower end of the dead lever toward the right. By means ofthe connections between the live and dead levers and the associatedbrake beams the shoes are of course carried into contact with theperipheries of the adjacent wheels. 1f, excess travel takes placeexceeding the lost motion provided for by the slot 23 relative slippingmovement between the friction clamp 27 and slotted end 25 will takeplace proportional or equal to the lost motion.

lfOn release of the brakes, the parts are returned to normal positionunder action of release spring 31 to bring the live lever to full returnposition with stop 32 against one side of the bolster. The initialreturn movement permitting the brake shoes to drop away from the wheels.is provided for by the lost motion slot 23, which insures a desiredbrake shoe clearance, and on continuation of the return movement ifexcess travel takes place the friction clamp will hold the link 24 inrelatively fixed position which in turn prevents further movement of thebrake beam 15 toward the right. This, of

course, will permit rod 21 to slide freely through the dogs 18 to theright an amount substantially equal to the excess travel.

This operation willbe repeated from time to time as may be necessary dueto the wear of the parts and the brake beams are progressively carriedtoward their respective wheels as the holding rod 21 telescopes with itsholding device 18. As the live lever is always returned to normalposition with its stop at rest uniform piston travel will take place atall times. From the above it will be seen that the temporary andpermanent take up and holding devices including the friction clampdevice and the positively acting dogs are directly connected with eachother in series and connect the live and dead levers with each otherintermediate their ends. It is thus clear that the present device-isadapted to accomplish, among others, all of the objects and advantagesabove set forth.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthis invention that others can by applying current knowledge readilyadapt it for various applications without omitting certain featuresthat, from the standpoint of the prior art, fairly constitute essentialcharacteristics of the ge- .therefore such adaptations should and areintended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalencyof the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a slack adjuster, in combination, live and dead levers, a push rodconnecting said levers, and an adjusting mechanism connecting saidlevers intermediate their ends and substantially parallel with said pushrod, said mechanism comprising a take up and holding means andatemporary adjusting means directly connected with each other in series.

2. In a slack adjuster, in combination, live and dead levers, a push rodconnecting said levers, and an adjusting mechanism connecting saidlevers intermediate their ends and substantially parallel with said pushrod, comprising a holding rod, a telescopic member coacting therewithand an adjusting means connected at one endto one of said parts and atthe other end with the dead lever.

y 3. 1n a slack adjuster, in combination, live and dead levers, a pushrod connecting the ends of said levers, and an adjusting mechanismconnecting said levers intermediate their ends and comprising a housing,a holding rod connected with the live lever and `telescoping within saidhousing, and an ad- CFI connected at one end with said housing and atits opposite end with said dead lever, said connections of the adjustingrod comprising a lost motion device at one end, and a friction clampdevice at the other.

5. In a slack adjuster, in combination, a live lever, a dead lever, arod connecting said levers, the slack adjusting mechanism connectingsaid levers and comprising a housing located in one of the brake beams,a holding rod telescoping with said housing, and an adjusting rodconnected with said housing at one end and having a friction clampconnection at its opposite end.

6. In a slack adjuster, in combination, a live lever, a dead lever, apush rod connecting said levers, the slack adjusting mechanismconnecting said levers and comprising a housing located in one of thebrake beams, a take up rod adapted to telescope with said housing,holding means within the housing adapted to coact with the effective endof said take-up rod to permanently take up and hold the slack due toexcess tra-vel, and an adjusting rod having a lost motion connectionwith said housing and a frictional connection near its opposite end withthe other brake beam.

7. In a slack adjuster, in combination, a housing located in one of thebrake beams, a holding rod adapted to telescope with said housing, meanswithin the housing adapted to coact with the effective end of saidholding rod to permanently take up and hold the slack due to excesstravel, and an adjusting rod associated with said housing having arotatable frictional clamp device near one of its ends, and a lostmotion device near its other end.

8. In a slack adjuster, in combination, a live lever and a holding rodhaving a pivotal connection with said live lever, and a take up andholding connection with the adjacent brake beam, and an adjusting rodconnected with the latter.

9. In a slack adjuster, a live lever, brake beams, a holding rodconnected with said lever, and adjusting` mechanism associated with thelever and brake beams, comprising a housing located in one of the brakebeams, said holding rod having a telescopic action with said housing,take up and holding means within the housing coacting with the holdingrod and adjusting means between the brake beams.

10. In a slack adjuster, in combination, a live lever, a dead lever,brake beams adjacent said levers, a push rod connecting the ends of saidlevers, and adjusting mechanism associated with the levers and brakebeams, comprising a housing, a holding rod connected with the live leverand having a telescopic action with said housing, take up and holdingmeans coacting with said holding rod, and adjusting means between thebrake beams, having a frictional connection with one of the brake beamsand a lost motion connection with the other.

11. In a slack adjuster, in combination, a live lever, a dead lever,brake beams adjacent said levers, a push rod connecting the ends of saidlevers, and adjusting mechanism associated with the levers and brakebeams comprising a holding rod connected with the live lever, take upand holding means coacting with said holding rod, adjusting meanscoacting with the holding rod between the brake beams, having arotatable frictional connection with one of the brake beams and a lostmotion connection with the other, and a return spring associated withthe live lever.

12. In a slack adjuster, in combination, a live lever, a dead lever,brake beams adjacent said levers, a rod connecting said levers,adjusting mechanism associated with the levers and brake beamscomprising a holding rod connected with the live lever, take up meansbetween the brake beams, having frictional connection with one of thebrake beams and a lost motion connection with the other, a releasespring associated with the live lever adapted to return the parts tonormal position, and a stop associated with the upper end of the livelever adapted to limit the return movement thereof.

18. In a slack adjuster, in combination, a live lever, a dead lever,brake beams adjacent sla-id levers, a push rod connecting the 100 endsof said levers, an adjusting mechanism associated with the levers andbrake beams comprising a housing located in one of the brake beams, aholding rod connected with the live lever and having a telescopic action105 within said housing, take up and adjusting means between the brakebeams, having a frictional connection with one of the brake beams, and alost motion connection with the other, a release spring associated with110 the live lever adapted to return the parts to normal position, and astop coacting with said bolster and the upper end of the live leveradapted to limit its return movement.

14. In a slack adjuster, in combination, a 115 relatively fiat adjustingrod, a friction clamp associated therewith, a support for said clamp,and means associated with said support permitting relative rotation ofthe rod about its longitudinal aXis.

15. In a slack adjuster, in combination, an adjusting mechanismcomprising a brake beam, a housing formed directly therewith and take upand holding means located directly in said housing.

16. In a slack adjuster, in combination, an adjusting rod, a frictionclamp associated therewith, a support for said clamp and a spring washerincluded in said clamp adapted to bear against said rod.

17. In a slack adjuster, in combination, brake beams, live and deadlevers associated therewith, a non-extensible push rod con necting` saidlevers, the'slaok adjuster meehanism Connecting said levers intermediatetheir ends and Comprising a housing located directly near one of thebrake beams, a take up lrod adapted to telescope'` with said housing,holding means within the housing adapted to coaet with said take up rodto permanently take up and hold the slack due to excess travel and anadjusting rod conneoting,- the brake beams land having a lost motionconnection at one end with one of said beams, and a yielding frietionalconnection at its other end with the other of said beams.

Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of New York this16th day of December A. D. 1915.

VILLIAM H. SAUVAGE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C.

